INDIA
Thousands of women protest
Thousands of women yesterday joined protests by farmers on the outskirts of Delhi to mark International Women’s Day, demanding the scrapping of new laws that open up agriculture produce markets to private buyers. Wearing bright yellow scarves representing the color of mustard fields, the women took centerstage at one key site, chanting slogans, holding small marches and making speeches through loudspeakers to target the laws. “This is an important day as it represents women’s strength,” said Veena, a 37-year-old from a farming family, who gave only one name to protect her identity. “I believe if us women are united, then we can achieve our target much quicker,” said Veena, who traveled from the northern state of Punjab to the sprawling Tikri protest spot. More than 20,000 women gathered at the site near Delhi’s border with the state of Haryana, police and event organizers said.
FRANCE
Billionaire MP dies in crash
Billionaire Olivier Dassault, a politician and scion of the Dassault aircraft-making family, was killed on Sunday in a helicopter crash, with President Emmanuel Macron paying tribute to a captain of industry who “never stopped serving our country.” Dassault died at about 6pm when his aircraft crashed near Deauville, parliamentary and investigation sources said. Macron was quick to pay homage to the 69-year-old member of parliament, saying in a tweet that “Olivier Dassault loved France. Captain of industry, local MP, reserve commander in the air force; throughout his life he never stopped serving our country.” Macron called his death “a great loss” and sent his condolences to Dassault’s family. Sources close to the crash enquiry said the pilot of the helicopter was also killed, and that no one else was on board.
EAST TIMOR
First lockdown imposed
Dili, the capital, went into lockdown from Monday midnight, amid fears it could be facing its first local outbreak. A “sanitary fence and mandatory confinement” have been imposed for seven days, with residents asked to stay home unless necessary to leave, the council of ministers said in statement. It said the measure was because of a “high probability of community transmission,” but did not elaborate. “It is forbidden to travel, by land, sea or air, out of this municipality, except in duly justified cases for reasons of safety, public health, humanitarian or other that are necessary for the accomplishment of the public interest,” it said. The council also approved a national vaccination plan, with 33,000 doses expected to arrive at the end of this month.
UNITED STATES
MacKenzie Scott remarries
MacKenzie Scott, the billionaire philanthropist and former wife of Amazon.com Inc founder Jeff Bezos, has remarried. The marriage to Dan Jewett, a Seattle science teacher, was mentioned in a post on the Web site for the philanthropic organization The Giving Pledge, in which Jewett said he would be signing on to Scott’s commitment to give away most of her wealth. Scott, 50, is the world’s 22nd-richest person, with about US$53 billion, according to Forbes. Her 2019 divorce from Bezos after 25 years of marriage left her with a 4 percent stake in Amazon. In December, Scott said she had donated more than US$4.1 billion in the four months prior to food banks and emergency relief funds amid the COVID-19 pandemic. That followed donations of US$1.7 billion last year to causes including racial equality, public health and climate change.
Former Nicaraguan president Violeta Chamorro, who brought peace to Nicaragua after years of war and was the first woman elected president in the Americas, died on Saturday at the age of 95, her family said. Chamorro, who ruled the poor Central American country from 1990 to 1997, “died in peace, surrounded by the affection and love of her children,” said a statement issued by her four children. As president, Chamorro ended a civil war that had raged for much of the 1980s as US-backed rebels known as the “Contras” fought the leftist Sandinista government. That conflict made Nicaragua one of
COMPETITION: The US and Russia make up about 90 percent of the world stockpile and are adding new versions, while China’s nuclear force is steadily rising, SIPRI said Most of the world’s nuclear-armed states continued to modernize their arsenals last year, setting the stage for a new nuclear arms race, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said yesterday. Nuclear powers including the US and Russia — which account for about 90 percent of the world’s stockpile — had spent time last year “upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions,” researchers said. Since the end of the Cold War, old warheads have generally been dismantled quicker than new ones have been deployed, resulting in a decrease in the overall number of warheads. However, SIPRI said that the trend was likely
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki yesterday erupted again with giant ash and smoke plumes after forcing evacuations of villages and flight cancelations, including to and from the resort island of Bali. Several eruptions sent ash up to 5km into the sky on Tuesday evening to yesterday afternoon. An eruption on Tuesday afternoon sent thick, gray clouds 10km into the sky that expanded into a mushroom-shaped ash cloud visible as much as 150km kilometers away. The eruption alert was raised on Tuesday to the highest level and the danger zone where people are recommended to leave was expanded to 8km from the crater. Officers also
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